"Our forecast is that there will be significant improvement in the second half of the year but that the economy will decline at an annual rate of about 2% overall in 2001," the economics professor says. "So the decline is frontloaded for the first six months."
The forecast is based in part on the assumption that Federal Reserve interest rate cuts will spur both business and consumer spending.
"There's a fairly pervasive slowdown across the entire state, with the exception of some areas along the coast, that is caused in part by the manufacturing sector being hit the hardest," Walden tells GlobeSt.com.
His forecast in North Carolina Economic Outlook is based on retail sales, employment and residential construction activity. The forecast covers 20 different regions in the state but does not break them down for specific areas.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
